A Short Guide to Self-Publishing

This is a SHORT guide, I'm sure there are some things I don't know, so I suggest you also take a look in on this group: you might find some useful tips or helpful advice there.


Self-publishing has something of a bum rep, with many people thinking of self-publishers as people who couldn't get their work 'really' published.

But the fact is that self-publishing is in many ways better than 'real' publishing: the artist has a much greater artistic freedom and control over his work; many writers and artists who have published work professionally are turning to self-publishing for those very reasons.

So if you are a writer (or mangaka, comic maker, etc.) I strongly recommend you at least look into self-publishing: you may decide not to do it, but there's no harm in looking.


EDITING YOUR WORK

Edit your work before you publish it: fix all the typoes you can find, the dangling paragraphs, leftover pencil lines, everything. Then go through it all again, then have someone go through and fix everything you missed.

Seriously, get someone else to do it: I'm a writer myself, so I know: there is always something you miss, that you need a second pair of eyes to find.

I sometimes do some editing, if I have the time; no harm in asking.


FORMATTING YOUR WORK

Self-publishers have a great deal of freedom in formatting their work: but you should think hard about how you do so to make sure it is readable fits your story.

I suggest you use small pages that are not really complex(I use 6x9 inches): small pages are easier to read.


PUBLISHING

Some people make their own websites to self-publish from, but I would recommend you not do that until you have really established yourself; there are a number of free websites for people to publish their work, either as e-books or print editions. I use this one: www.lulu.com/ lulu.com; their tutorial is easy to follow and they seem reliable about money. There are others though, such as Smashwords.com www.smashwords.com/ and CreateSpace.com www.createspace.com/ so do some looking around for yourself.


GETTING YOUR WORK REVIEWED

I review and feature self-published stories; check it out! forum.deviantart.com/community…


ADVERTISING

Without question, the hardest part for self-publishers is advertising their work. There are more in-depth guides to this out there and I suggest you look them up, but here's one technique that I've developed myself:

Put together a short preview of your work: a few pages long that showcases what about your work is good; include in it the url to your self-published work. Then send it to everybody you know and ask them to send it to everyone they know.

You should also seek out individuals and groups who hold an interest in your kind of work and get them to advertise for you. For example a mangaka(manga writer) could find some manga group here on dA and get them to advertise his self-published manga, possibly by making points donation.

I'm a publisher, so I can help if you want: I can help you advertise your work and offer you advice more specific to your work.

IN ADDITION I am starting a catalogue of online self-publishers; blogs, online storefronts, personal accounts, etc.; anyone can have their details added for free, just let me know.

There are two keys to advertising; the first is originality: try something that people haven't a thousand times before. The second is networking: work with as many people as possible; for instance if you know a bunch of other folks interested in self-publishing you can all work together to advertise all your different works.


KEEP PLUGGING

No-one is a success overnight: even if you do everything right, it'll take a while for your work to really take off: don't get discouraged and if something doesn't work then try something different, and keep at it!


QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, ETC.

I love them: please write with anything you've got to say.